(DE)RELICT THURSDAY

"Ruth, Relict of Robert Turnbull" in the abandoned Victorian cemetery across the road, just as the late sun dropped between the clouds and the horizon.

From the same origin as derelict, meaning abandoned or left behind. The dictionary says: "(archaic): widow". Why not widower, I wonder? This lady died in 1900, and I would think it was quite an old-fashioned term then. I wonder who decided to use it on her gravestone.
I wouldn't have liked being referred to as a relict.